November 30, 2011
Strays
There is a long-haired grey feral cat in my neighborhood who
occasionally takes a nap in a sunny spot on my deck. The other day I caught him
grooming himself and was struck that even though he is for all practical
purposes alone in the world, his life situation doesn’t stop him from being meticulous
with his grooming. I think we believers have something in common with this cat.
While this world is not our home, it should not stop us from being presentable
in the neighborhood. “But when you fast,
put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be
obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen;
and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matt
6:17-18 NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----I am going to slightly object to the purpose you stated for your neighborhood stray’s grooming. You implied his unceasing, meticulous grooming was for maintaining presentableness in the neighborhood by making it metaphorical of that purpose for our grooming. Seeing our cat who lives completely alone in our home (catwise) groom himself continually, I wonder if the purpose may run deeper into a basic obsession with simply being clean. He doesn’t even like other cats, let alone put up with being in their presence! And for years of his tireless grooming, he didn’t even like us much either. He liked his food. He liked his place to sleep. He liked an occasional mouse chase, and he liked to groom. Everything else he put up with, including socializing. Of course, I’ve never been a cat to know for sure, but it seems like they groom by just the nature of cat.
-----Now that isn’t to mean there is no social purpose for a cat’s grooming. It is to mean maybe that purpose is an offshoot of a deeper purpose. Now bringing the stray cat grooming metaphor back to the target of us citizen’s of a different place adds a bit of dimension. The cat grooms because of what it is. It is cat. Cat grooms. We groom because of what we are. We are possessions of the Most High. Possessions of the Most High groom. Well, I don’t know if they do back home or not. I’ve never been there yet. Maybe they don’t, as if getting dirty or rumpled would never happen there because it might in some way be an imperfection. But we sure get dirty and rumpled here! Both physically and spiritually we do. And having the nature of the Most High’s possessions, we have a natural craving for cleanliness regardless of where we are. It just happens to serve another purpose of rendering us presentable, as well.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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